This document discusses the functions and types of drilling fluids. It describes how drilling fluids transport cuttings to the surface, clean drill bits, provide downhole pressure control, prevent fluid loss into formations, and power downhole tools. The key types of drilling fluids are water-based mud, oil-based mud, and gas-based fluids. Water-based mud is the most common and uses additives to control density, viscosity, and clay chemistry. Oil-based mud is used in reactive shale formations and has advantages in high temperatures but also environmental and health disadvantages.

1. Contents
1. Functions Of Mud
2 .Drilling Mud Additives
3 .Drilling Fluid Types
4 .Drilling Mud Properties
5. Drilling Fluid Selection
6 .Drilling Mud Problems
7. Solids Control
8.Fluid pumping equipment

2. Drilling Fluid Function
Drilling Fluid Function
1.Transport cutting and dispose to surface - The drilling fluid brings
the drilled
material to the ground surface
either by mud rheology and velocity

3. Drilling Fluid Function
2. Clean drill bits – As drilling fluid exits
the bit jets, fluid velocity removes
cutting from the bit teeth and bit body.
This prevents bit
ball up situation.

4. Drilling Fluid Function
3. Provide hydrostatic pressure to control well while drilling –
Hydrostatic pressure provided from drilling fluid is the primary
well control. Mud weight should be high enough
to control formation pressure while drilling.
P=0.052*MW*TVD
Psi=0.052*ppg*ft

5. Drilling Fluid Function
4. Prevent excessive mud loss - While drilling, clay
particle will form a thin layer over porous zones
called “mud cake” or “filter cake”. Mud cake acts as
barrier to prevent excessive drilling fluid loss into
formation and provides wellbore stability..

6. Drilling Fluid Function
5. Prevent formation damage by using reservoir drill-
in fluid – While drilling long reach zone in
horizontal wells, the special drilling fluid will be
utilized in order to prevent formation damage.

7. Drilling Fluid Function
6. Provide hydraulic pressure to down hole assembly (BHA)- as mud motor,
measuring
while drilling (MWD),
logging while drilling (LWD), etc
– Without enough hydraulic power,
down hole tool will not be properly
operated, hence, drilling fluid plays
essential role to provide power to
sophisticated down hole tool.

8. Drilling Fluid Additives
There are many drilling fluid additives which are used to either change the
mudweight(density) or change its chemical properties .
1.Weighting Materials:
Weighting materials (densifiers) are compounds that are dissolved or suspended
in drilling fluid to increase its density. They are used to control formation
pressures and to help combat the effects of sloughing or heaving shales that
may be encountered in stressed areas.
Any substance that is denser than water and that does not adversely
affect other properties of the drilling fluid can
be used as a weighting material

9. Drilling Fluid Additives
Mud weights higher than water (8.3 ppg) are required to control formation
pressures and to help combat the effects of sloughing or heaving shales that
may be encountered in stressed areas.

10. Types of Drilling Fluid

11. Air drilling
• Advantages:
• Higher penetration rates
• Better hole cleaning
• Less formation damage
• Disadvantages:
• Air cannot support the wellbore stability
• Doesn’t provide enough pressure

12. Types of drilling Fluid
Three types of drilling mud are in common use:
water-base mud
oil-base mud
Gas based fluids
Water Base Mud
This fluid is the mud in which water is the continuous phase. This is the most
common drilling mud used in oil drilling.
The following designations are normally used to define the classifications of water
base drilling fluid

13. Oil base mud
This drilling mud is made up of oil as the
continuous phase. Diesel oil is widely used to
provide the oil phase.
This type of mud is commonly used in swelling
shale formation.
There are two types of oil-based muds:
• Invert Emulsion Oil Muds.
• Pseudo Oil Based Mud .

14. Advantages of Oil Based Mud
• The oil base mud is good for high temperature environment because the base
fluid is oil.
• It is good for drilling into shale formation because it does not react with
formation clay causing shale instability.
• It typically creates thin mud cake. This is really good because you can reduce
risk for pipe stuck situation.
• It can be treated and reused. Using this mud for long run can reduce overall
drilling mud cost.
• Oil base as external phase is good lubricant so it greatly reduce drilling torque.

15. Disadvantages of OBM
• Environmental concern – Oil base mud is considered as toxic waste
therefore it cannot be disposed directly into land, river, or ocean
• People Heath – This mud has hazardous vapors which will cause health
problem to personnel who working with it in both short and long term.
• Cost – Mud cost of this system is higher than water base mud in terms of
cost per barrel.
• Gas kick detection – Gas kick is very difficult to identify because gas is
soluble in oil. You may take kick but you will be able to see pit gain or flow
increase at the first time.
• Equipment – Rubber parts is easily deteriorated by oil base.

16. Density
((Any accepted terminology that indicates the weight per
unit volume of drilling fluid))
-Pounds per gallon (ppg).
-Pounds per cubic feet (pcf).
-Gram per cubic centimeter (g/cc).
-Kilogram per liter (kg/l).

17. Density
Mud weight is measured in the field using a
mud balance, as shown in Fig..

18. viscosity
Viscosity is a measure of the internal resistance of a fluid to flow
1- Funnel Viscosity
Apparent Viscosity (vis) is the measured times it
takes for one quart of mud to gravity feed through
a hole of a specific diameter.

19. Clay Chemistry
• Expandable Clays which absorb water so that they are called
hydrophilic. (such as montmorillonite clays)
• Non-expandable Clays, they will not absorb water so they are called
hydrophobic (such as illite)

20. Sodium & Calcium montmorillonite

21. Viscosity Control additives to WBM
• Native clays
• Wyoming Bentonite
To reduce the viscosity of the mud:
• Reduce the solids content
• Reduce the number of particles per unit volume
• Neutralize the attractive forces between the
particles. (Using thinners)

22. Density control additives to WBM
• Barite
• Calcium Carbonate
• Galena